Sports Management as an Emerging Economic Activity

At present, physical activity and sport have acquired extraordinary social and economic importance, being considered an important driver of development by involving, directly and indirectly, a large number of activities belonging to different economic sectors. Precisely because of its transversal nature, it is necessary to use appropriate management methods, which are understood as the set of activities and means necessary to achieve an optimal level of operation and quality in the sporting activity, using the resources available in a rational way to obtain the maximum results. Thus, the objective of this chapter has been to perform an analysis of the scientific production related to sport management through the development of a bibliometric study and a longitudinal statistical analysis of the articles published in journals indexed in the multidisciplinary database Scopus (Elsevier) until 2015. The analysis of the 393 documents obtained shows that although the first articles appeared in the early 1980s, it was not until 2008 when interest in this discipline experienced rapid growth, especially in countries such as the United States, Spain, and Australia. The studies are within the areas of Business and International Management, Strategy and Management, and Marketing and are published in specialized journals of the sport management sector: International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, Journal of Sport Management, and Sport Management Review.

If we compare the economic rankings of countries to that of their national sports results, we notice that there is a strong correlation between the two. Indeed, the top 10 ranked economically find themselves in part, but only in part, at similar rankings on the sporting level. India and Brazil do not transform their economic performances on the sporting chart; Russia and Australia are better ranked on the sporting scale than from an economic point of view. We must note that the idea that sporting success principally means economic investment is a fairly recent observation and one that should be nuanced if we take the example of soccer in which clubs and national teams from smaller countries like the Netherlands or Portugal have excelled even when faced with large, economically strong nations like Germany, Great Britain, or France. It seems that the market’s globalization as well as the sporting competition is a part of the explanation because it necessitates more and more cumbersome investments. But, public funding no longer suffices to finance sporting events and it is sometimes badly used by bureaucrats who lack expertise. As a result, the solution ends up being private funding from renowned enterprises that are efficient on the competitive markets. However, the funding capacity of enterprises is directly linked to the economic conjuncture of countries where the funding capacity develops. Turkey (classified 17th in the world on an economic scale and 41st on a sporting scale at Rio in 2016) constitutes a good illustration of this complex relationship between economic means and sporting results. The results of Turkey’s basketball clubs attract attention. The qualification of the Fenerbahçe club during the last three ULEB Euroleague Final Four (2015, 2016 and 2017) and its Euroleague Final Four’s title at the last edition (2017), or moreover Galatasaray’s victory in the ULEB Eurocup (2016) represent exceptional successes that surprise sports analysts. However, behind these sporting achievements, privately funded money appears, given by sponsors who financed the construction of new sports halls and the recruitment of players on an international level. The sporting expenses of Turkish enterprises during the last 10 years have increased considerably, in relation to the good economic health of the country. We propose an analysis of the link between economic resources and sporting performance, applied to the case of sports in Turkey, in order to show the complexity of this issue. We shall see that the hypothesis of a direct explanatory influence is not always valid and that other factors should be taken into consideration.

This chapter examines the relationship between residents’ posture towards tourism and the degree of acceptance of sports tourism in comparison to sun and beach tourism, maritime tourism (sailing and cruises), and nature tourism in the case of Punta del Este (Uruguay). The study of residents’ posture is important for the management of tourist destinations. Residents create a posture towards tourism through a cost–benefit analysis based on their perception of economic, social, cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism. The analysis of the data was carried out through partial least squares on a sample of 420 residents in Punta del Este. The fieldwork was carried out between March and August 2016. The main results of the analysis are as follows: the strongest causal relationship is between residents’ general posture and sun and beach tourism, followed by the causal relationship between general posture and sports tourism. The main conclusion is that a more tourism-friendly posture does not imply greater support for any type of tourism, as is the case in this study with regard to nature tourism. There is an important relationship between general posture and the acceptance of sports tourism, and this implies that by improving residents’ general posture, the enthusiasm for developing sports tourism also increases.

At present, in the sports services industry, “perceived quality of service” becomes an important concept for its managers, allowing, on the one hand, to hear and design services taking into account its users’ requirements, a key point to ensure its survival, and, on the other hand, to detect weaknesses and establish the necessary improvement actions, thus starting the path to continuous improvement within the organization. The objective of this chapter is to know the level of quality of service perceived by users of a sports center (case study), as well as to analyze the satisfaction they experience with the service received. We also analyzed whether there is a correlation between perceived quality and satisfaction. The methodology used is a descriptive analysis of a sample of 206 clients from a population of 1512 subscribers using the Scale of Perception of Sports Organizations (EPOD) as a measuring instrument. The results show that the overall quality of service with an average of 4.43 out of 5 is very high and corresponds to a high satisfaction level (4.48). The five dimensions of the scale show an average higher than 4. In addition, it was verified that there is a high correlation between perceived quality and satisfaction. This study has important implications for the Sports Center, its customers were heard and the weaknesses of the service provided were detected, enabling to establish improvement plans and most importantly to detect in time changes in the needs or tastes of its customers.

Under the framework of institutional theory, the role of legitimacy on the soccer clubs activity is studied. For this reason, the actions that provide legitimacy and their relationship with the clubs results are analyzed. Through a review of the two most recognized Spanish soccer clubs, the results of this study suggest that cognitive and emotional types of legitimacy are essential for the institutionalization of soccer clubs, even more than other types of legitimacy such as pragmatic or regulative legitimacy. This study also suggests a relationship between economic performance and clubs legitimacy. These results broaden the organizations’ current legitimacy process knowledge. These results also help sports entities managers to focus their strategic efforts on those legitimacy actions which are more relevant to their constituents.

Doping is not a modern phenomenon. The practice of using illegal substances to improve physical performance beyond one’s physical capabilities and thus beat challengers during sports events goes back to very ancient times. Already during the first Olympic Games, athletes used stimulating substances to become more competitive. Greek and Roman wrestlers ingested special mushrooms or various types of meat, convinced that this would give them an edge in wrestling matches. However, today in some sports the scope of this phenomenon has become worrying, in view of the need not only to safeguard fair competition, but also and especially to protect athletes’ health. The aim of this study is to explore and identify the dynamics of doping within sports disciplines and the mechanisms that cause its growth. We shall also attempt to understand whether there are substantial differences in the demand for doping among the various sports disciplines. The distinctive feature of this study is the interpretation of some stylized doping facts through ecological-biological models and evolutionary games.

Sport facilities have a major environmental impact in addition to a strong public profile and social responsibility. Big facilities, as football stadiums, over different life cycles use resources like energy, water, and materials; need transport; and have many other environmental, social, and economic impacts. Progressive sports and facilities managers are more conscious of their responsibilities to reduce energy, water usage, and waste production and not only to reduce environmental impacts which may also reduce costs.

This chapter analyzes how environmental and sustainable solutions are being considered at sport facilities and organizations like FIFA and UEFA and in what way to assess and apply presently a specific approach designated as Dynamic Management System for Sustainability in Sport Facilities (DM3S). Football sport international organizations like FIFA and UEFA have assumed an environmental awareness and progressive change from green approaches to sustainable search.

This chapter presents an analysis of ten Euro 2004 Portuguese football stadiums, especially FC Porto Stadium with DM3S highlighting the best performance and opportunities and improvements and also the utility of the approach. A comparison with other international old and newer stadiums also shows an evolution in sport facilities environmental design and management.

Sport facilities have a role in identifying sustainability and in beginning to search for a broader view and a more efficient approach which can be multidimensional and must consider all life cycle.

We studied the amateur soccer teams of Portugal. Using a sample composed by the clubs with teams playing in the major leagues of each regional association (‘Associações Distritais’), we observed for the first time in the literature a significant number of clubs and teams. These teams responded to a proper survey which enabled us to study the financial sustainability of this important dimension for the youth and amateur sports.

This chapter aims to show a different point of view on one of the most famous sports in the world: football. The objective is to present a perspective that not many people get to see or even know about, because it is not about which player scores more goals or which team gets more titles. The approach that we want to show is the financial and economic state of each team, meaning, for example, why can some teams invest a large amount of money in players and facilities and other teams cannot? Why are there teams that relegate their division to a lower one? Is it just because they do not afford their goals or is there something else? What is there behind these sports goals? Is football just a game? What economic and financial situation are Spanish football teams in? To give an answer to all of those questions, we have studied the CAMEL variables and ratios of 13 Spanish football corporations throughout the 2003–2012 period. The results show that the majority of the clubs cannot control their financial status, sometimes due to unrealistic goals and other times due to lack of management and financial control. It leads to an economic downturn which is also supported by the wrong distribution of TV rights. However, as it can be observed in this chapter, there is some good news for Spanish Football Teams. As this chapter shows, it is possible to control the financial status setting some limits and controlling the financial rates. Also, it is important to highlight that the Professional Football League is changing the distribution of TV rights, which will be distributed in a more equal way, which will reduce the big difference among incomes between the first positioned teams in the table and the last positioned teams. Also, UEFA is interested in this issue due to the high level of clubs that find themselves in a debt-ridden situation and will penalize the teams that did not accomplish their financial requirement, which can be read in this chapter.

This study is based on the analysis of the football clubs shares that make up the STOXX Europe Football Index as risk-diversifying assets. All football clubs are listed on a stock exchange in Europe or Eastern Europe, Turkey, or the EU-Enlarged region. To do this, we will demonstrate through the autocorrelation matrix and the Bayesian Network Analysis that the STOXX Europe Football Index is not correlated with the European Stock Market Index. The results of the study show that the STOXX Europe Football Index is not correlated with the European Stock Market Index, and it will act as alternative investment. The analysis shows that these alternative assets could be included in an investment portfolio with the aim of diversifying them, thereby reducing their overall risk.

This chapter deals with problems related to the development of decision support systems in sports traumatology. A mathematical model is proposed. The model is based on ideas and methods of the pattern recognition theory. The structure of the proposed computer technology is described.

The main aim of this chapter is to provide a measure of the differences in sport activities among Italian regions. The sportiness rate of a country or of the different territories within a country is a very interesting research topic because it is directly linked to other variables that have valuable content and offer a strong economic impact. First and foremost, it is a new expression of citizenship rights. Therefore, in spite of the apparent marginalization of this topic in relation to other welfare matters of greater relevance, the sportiness rate is unquestionably linked to healthcare spending, life expectancy, and social participation. The sportiness rate is directly related to the widespread participation of population in sport activities, which constitutes an element of fundamental importance both for public planning of activities and for budget purposes, themselves the base for private investments. The resulting index, albeit an initial approximation, is a good descriptor of the differences existing among Italian regions. An analysis of sport-related economic policies shows how investments in sport activities function as a social bridge and, thus, are powerful tools to promote social cohesion across the territory.

Data analysis in sports has adopted many different approaches given its usefulness in quantitative and objective management. Several advances have been made considering the researches and technologies that have been developed up until now. It is possible to find many complex methodologies of sport performance analysis in order to have as much as information as possible to achieve success. Therefore, a wide variety of options are available for sport managers, coaches or anyone interested, including advances on information systems, data mining, machine learning and motion analysis. However, the cost of these powerful methodologies induces the search of cheaper techniques based on basic but proper notation methodology. The aim of this chapter is to provide an observational methodology for soccer match analysis. When paired with PageRank as the main indicator of performance, it allows for a deep analysis of the data and better decision-making and performance analysis in soccer. To show some insights about the proposed model, real data from past matches are presented and discussed. Results show graph visualization that sum up the whole match in terms of the flows of a network modelled with passes and recoveries from the players as weights of its edges. One implication of our research is to be a first approach in generalizing the PageRank algorithm to soccer team’s management, which could be extrapolated to other disciplines. It also points to the feasibility of making a quantitative analysis for sport managers with a reasonable cost-benefit ratio. This analysis opens the paths to further analysis that could include spatiotemporal variables.

With the growth of the fitness sector, a concern for client loyalty emerges as managers recognize its importance. Loyalty is the client’s predisposition to select a preferred provider and the tendency to resist any persuasion from the competition (Crosby and Johnson, Marketing Management 13(4):12–13, 2004). In particular, loyalty could be assessed with objective and subjective measures. First is the keeping or repurchasing of sport services. In the case of subjective loyalty, it could be said client behavior intention or the recommendation to other possible clients. Based on these premises, the objective of this study was to examine the subjective and objective measures of loyalty toward private fitness center by sociodemographic and behavior variables. For this a questionnaire measuring longevity of membership and behavior intentions was administered to 2931 clients (1221 women and 1710 men) from 101 fitness centers in Spain. A descriptive analysis, factorial exploratory analysis, analysis of variance, and a two-way luster analysis were conducted. The principal results show five subgroups of client segments from the objective measure and two subgroups in the subjective measure. The results demonstrate significant differences in both subgroups with regard to behavior intentions but not according to membership longevity. This study suggests a difference in the subjective perception of the client and their behavior with regard to the purchase of service.

The necessity and usefulness for citizens of the sport services offered by town/city councils to encourage practising sport is a basic pillar in today’s society, which is becoming increasingly sedentary and overfed, because healthy life habits help fight diseases caused by inactivity and being overweight. Nowadays not even half the Europe population practises sport on a regular basis, which is why public administrations must encourage this healthy habit. In parallel, town/city councils’ budgets have been cut due to the recent economic crisis, and they have had to revise and optimise their management models, which they had applied to all domains, especially in this one. This chapter analyses the various sport management types applied by town/city councils and presents the practical case of the city of Valencia.

At present, intensified competition together with the need to adapt to customer demands contributes to sports organizations aiming to achieve the highest quality in the services they provide. In this way, quality has become an unavoidable aspect of sports management and an element of strategic differentiation, as it is one of the main factors influencing competitiveness. The aim of this chapter is to provide a current picture of the scientific literature relating to quality management in the sports field in order to know who, what, where, how, and how much has been researched and the main lines of research followed in this field. The work methodology consists of the collection and analysis of indexed documents in the multidisciplinary database Scopus (Elsevier), by using an advanced search of terms. Eighty-six publications were analyzed and it was observed that it was not until 2009 when there was a real increase in scientific production on quality management in the sports field.

The present study aims to relate to the importance of the concepts of leadership and personal branding, focusing on the three most renowned coaches in recent years: Vicente del Bosque, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. All three are highly successful figures in their respective careers, but they have different styles of leadership, sports management and personality, which results in, each case, a personal brand that is unique and different. To carry out this assessment, the concepts of leadership and personal branding relating to the sports field were analysed and specifically the implications on coaches and managers. Therefore, the career of each of these three coaches was studied and comprehensively evaluated, to identify their leadership and personal brand singularities, using a methodology based on two steps: a state-of-the-art review of the concepts described and applied to Vicente del Bosque, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola and a field investigation that supported and gave significance to the state of art reviewed and to the conclusions derived from this study. The research concludes that these coaches are unrivalled in relation to their leadership and personal branding style: Jose Mourinho as a tactician and motivator of players, prioritizing short-term results; Pep Guardiola in strategic dimensions, ongoing learning and emphasizing the importance of aesthetic soccer; and Vicente del Bosque in creating a team with a good working environment and interpersonal skills, highlighting the unity and loyalty of the team above and beyond the short-term results. The limitations of leadership style and personal branding of these three trainers were also highlighted in the present research.